Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Family and Reproductive Health 1735-8949 9 4 2015 12 02 155 163 Mohammad Karimian Gametogenesis Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Hossein Nikzad Gametogenesis Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Abolfazl Azami-Tameh Anatomical Sciences Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Aliakbar Taherian Gametogenesis Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Fatemeh Zahra Darvishi Department of Biology, Division of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran Mohammad Javad Haghighatnia Gametogenesis Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran 2016 01 23 2016 01 23 Objective: To investigate the association of C631T single nucleotide polymorphisms in SPO11 gene with male infertilityfollowed by an in silico approach. SPO11 is a gene involved in meiosis and spermatogenesis process, which in humans, this gene is located on chromosome 20 (20q13.2-13.3) with 13 exons. Materials and methods: In a case-control study, 200 blood samples were collected from the IVF center (Kashan, Iran) including; 100 infertile and 100 healthy control men. SPO11-C631T were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.The effects of C631T transition on the structure of mRNA and protein of SPO11 was evaluated by bioinformatics tools. Results: Our data revealed that all subjects were wild-type homozygous inC631T positionsand just a sample from fertile group was heterozygousin C631T (OR: 0.3300, 95% CI: 0.0133 to 8.1992, p = 0.4988).Our in silico-analysis revealed that C631T transition could make fundamental changes in the structure of the mRNA (Score: 0.1983) and protein (PROVEAN Score: -3.371; Reliability Index: 4; Expected Accuracy: 82%) of SPO11. Also, C631T substitution could change the aggregation prone regions of the SPO11 protein (dTANGO = 209.99). Conclusion: So even though the SPO11-C631T don’t increase the risk of male infertility, it could be deleterious for themRNA and protein. https://jfrh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfrh/article/view/378 https://jfrh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfrh/article/download/378/334